New Irish export business has expanded in May despite the looming decision Britons are facing about the future of their European membership, new figures have shown.

According to the latest Investec Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a number of panellists reported they had secured orders from new clients.

The PMI shows new exports expanded at a stronger pace in May while the overall headline PMI increased to 61.7, up from April's 59.8 reading.

The latest reading also outlines that businesses are continuing to hire staff to help deal with increasing client demand as business outstanding remains in positive territory.

Investec Ireland chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said the services industry remained upbeat on the outlook with sentiment staying very much in positive territory.

"All in all, this is a very positive report, which is just the tonic after a downbeat Manufacturing PMI release earlier this week. In any event, we expect to see stronger readings from both PMIs later this year, assuming our base case that UK voters choose to remain in the EU comes to pass.

"On the margin side, Input Prices continued to increase at a marked pace during May, with higher staff, fuel and insurance costs blamed for this. Firms were, however, able to defray at least a portion of this by hiking average prices charged once again in May. Helped by higher volumes, the Profitability index improved to its highest level in four months," he said.